FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What is LingoBot?
LingoBot is an app to teach you a foreign language. It features 1,000 common, useful words. Each word has an image, sentence, and native speaker audio. It uses a Spaced Repetition System (SRS) to teach you very efficiently.
LingoBot also features game elements to increase the fun and “gamify” the experience. This motivates you to learn even quicker!
What languages are available?
Currently, we have only released LingoBot English for Thai speakers. This is to test the app and get feedback before doing a more extended release.
We will be releasing LingoBot in more languages soon.
When will LingoBot be available in X language?
We are working hard at producing a LingoBot version for each of the major languages. Have a special request? Contact us and let us know what you want!
How much does LingoBot cost?
LingoBot is free to download and try. It comes with the first 50 words which allows you to earn the Bronze Star.
If you like it, you can unlock and download all content for just $0.99 (This is the special release price. The full price in the future will be $9.99.)
Just think about the value. An ok private language tutor charges $20/hr. LingoBot is MUCH MORE EFFICIENT than a human teacher, and will give you many hours of instruction. If you think about it in these terms, it would be easy to justify paying several hundred dollars.
Let’s compare the value of LingoBot to some other options.
Rosetta Stone is the top selling language learning software in the world. The price is about $300 for one course. But don’t let the high price fool you. If I may be so bold as to say so, LingoBot is better and cheaper. If Rosetta Stone were free, I would still choose LingoBot over it.
A typical language book costs about $20. There are some fine language books available. But they just can’t compete with the latest technology and multimedia experience found in LingoBot. And LingoBot is STILL cheaper.
Why 1,000 words total?
LingoBot teaches you the 1,000 best possible words. Some words and more important to learn than others. For example, the word “day” is something you will use much more often than the word “octopus”. So you should focus on learning these important, core words first.
Statistically speaking, the first 1,000 words are used more often than the next 50,000 words.
We chose 1,000 words because it is just the right amount to build a solid foundation in the language. Our first version had 2,500 words. This sounds good in theory, but this is too many words and the reviews build up until it all becomes too tedious to continue.
How did you choose the words included in the LingoBot app?
We chose words based on frequency lists, principles of Basic English, and our experience.
We carefully consulted frequency lists compiled from millions of words of real usage, such as in books, newspapers, and internet forums. It is important to teach the most common words instead of wasting time learning hard words you will never use.
But frequency lists are not enough. I know, I tried it. If you only study those words, you will be learning a lot of tricky functional words in the flash card format. A word such as “dog” is useful and easy to learn. But a word such as “would” is more complicated and not suited to this format.
There exists foundational words which are useful and common across different languages. With these core words you are able to communicate in most common situations. For example, take the English word “do”. With this word, you can communicate a huge number of actions, even though a native speaker may use 1,000 different verbs to say “do”.
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